


Kindness

by mtapfan



Category: My Time At Portia (Video Game)
Genre: Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Light Angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-19
Updated: 2020-03-19
Packaged: 2021-03-01 00:27:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 952
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23216254
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mtapfan/pseuds/mtapfan
Summary: Lou's first few days in Portia hadn't gone as well as she'd hoped, and then this happened. Why did the universe hate her so much?But despite everything she thinks, there's at least one kind person in town who's willing to help
Comments: 2
Kudos: 12





	Kindness

Lou sniffled quietly as she stared at the cobblestones beneath her face, then slowly pushed herself up so she was sitting in the shallow water of the outer fountain, and twisted her arm up to look at it. Her entire lower arm was grazed, blood starting to mix with the water from the fountain, and tears started to burn at the edges of her eyes. 

Why? Why did the world hate her? Having to leave Barnarock, to move into a run down old house with holes in the walls and floor. Having the other builder in town, someone she’d hoped might help her out a little, maybe give her a few pointers to help her get started, sneer at her and slam the guild door in her face after stealing that last commission yesterday. And now this. Tripping over the edge of the stupid fountain because she’d been too busy reading what this, her first ever job, needed. Soaking her trousers and grazing up her arms because she’d fallen like an idiot.

Why? Just  _ why _ ?

“Are you ok there young one?”

And now someone had seen her. Great.

She glanced quickly at the person crouching next to her. Red overcoat, and a weirdly sectioned top with chequered squares and spade symbols. It was the man from the restaurant, she thought, though she had no idea what his name was. Which after three days in town, wasn’t great of her, she knew.

Keeping her eyes down, so she wouldn’t have to look up and see the pity she was sure she’d find there, she sniffed.

“No. No I’m not,” she muttered, looking back down at her arm, now even redder than before, then let it fall to her lap before he could get a good look at what she’d done to herself. She hated how young and petulant she sounded, but right now, she also couldn’t make herself care enough to be embarrassed by it. 

The snort of laughter he gave was kind, as was the warm hand that settled on the back of her shoulder. She turned her head away from him, and gave in to a groan as she saw the paper slip with her job floating away from her, being dragged towards the fountain’s intake under one of the flows of the upper level. She was going to have to beg a copy of that pink haired man, and hoped he’d be kind about it.

“There there now. That looked like a nasty tumble, but it’s not all that bad. How about you let me look at your arm, hmm?”

She flinched, shrinking down and pulling her arm closer to her body away from him. No, no she didn’t want that. Bad enough that he’d seen her fall, she didn’t need him thinking she was even more pathetic if she could help it. With the way her forearm was stinging right now, she was sure it was worse than it looked, and she just wanted to get home and raid her small first aid kit for disinfectant and a bandage.

The hand, which had been rubbing small circles on her back, moved over her shoulder and down her arm, moving so only his fingertips ran along her skin until he reached her wrist and slowly, gently, wrapped around her. She sniffed again, refusing to look but allowing him to lift her limb, and bit her lip when she heard him hiss.

“Well now, that surely is a mess. But never fear young one, it isn’t as bad as it could be. Come on now, let’s get you up and over to the restaurant. I can clean that up in no time, and get you something warm and filling to set your day right. How does that sound?”

She had to close her eyes then, more and more tears forming and falling in a way she couldn’t control. She shook her head, and opened her mouth to tell him that no, it was fine, she was going to head home, but instead a small, choked sob slipped out, and she slapped her other hand over her mouth in a futile attempt to keep the rest in.

He moved almost immediately when her shoulders started to shake, shifting forward and kneeling either side of her, and pulling her in close to wrap in his arms. One of his hands moved up to settle on her hair, and started to smooth over it.

“Shush, shush. You’re ok. Come now, a little scrape like this isn’t anything to cry over.”

“I’m not crying because I got hurt,” she burst out shakily, words disjointed from her ragged breathing, before biting hard on her lip again. No. No she wouldn’t break down. She needed to be strong. It didn’t matter that this was the first time someone had been kind to her in, damn. In goodness knew however long. It didn’t matter that this was the first person in town to show her genuine kindness, and not just the polite distance people offered to strangers. It didn’t matter that he was warm, and gentle, and had chosen to kneel in the fountain with her.

She wouldn’t dump her problems on him after already inconveniencing him so much. She couldn’t do that.

But the way his arm pulled tighter around her waist, and his fingers sunk into her hair. His nails barely scratched her scalp in a way that was vaguely soothing as he continued running his fingers through it. And then he tugged slightly, turning her head so she could hide her face against his coat if she wanted to. 

The way he was looking after her, despite not knowing her?

It made her want to.

**Author's Note:**

> An apology of sorts for the discord, for the cursed things I've wrote in the drabbles.  
> I'm not planning on adding more as of right now


End file.
